"Pinch me! I'm still in California!"

Walking around the lake to our favorite local phở, pronounced "fah," place (which turns out to be Ahn Dao since Phở King, while notorious for its name, is a further walk to a slightly less safe part of town), we had another "pinch me I'm in California" moment.  We still seem to have a lot of those.  This was the first walk around the lake we'd made in a few months.  And then it hit us.  It's been over a year since the big move.

The day-to-day details (our jobs, cats puking all over the house, hanging out with the neighbors and catching the germs their kids bring home from daycare, visiting the ethnic markets, restaurants, and grocery stores) have become a blur, but we're noticing some trends in how we're managing our time.

My schedule isn't always in sync with Jess', so when I'm not working I keep myself busy with projects like selling things on Craigslist.  Some dude paid me $90 for a pair of scuba fins I bought at the Laney College flea market for 2 bucks (mind you, they sell for over $300 new but the guy who offered them to me for 2 bucks was obviously oblivious).

The swap meet has become a semi-regular weekly adventure, complete with a near-routine schedule and walking path through the aisles of tarps on the ground, neatly littered with old household stuff, gizmos and greasy tools, cheap socks and used clothes, and generic old junk, with the occasional "too-good-to-be-true-I-wish-I-had-somewhere-to-put-that" find.  I now have something of an inventory of crap to sell on craigslist, including no fewer than three fancy nylon kites and a couple hundred or so pieces of very nice grapevine wood.  Whatever's left in three weeks will be garage-saled. 

Speaking of garage sales...  In place of the Wine Bus idea, Wifey's been working on a professional organizing business concept.  It started a few years back when we got onto this "simple living" kick with a book called "Your Money or Your Life" which is featured in the documentary "Affluenza."  We started getting rid of stuff we didn't use, spending less money and time on "stuff" and more on "doing."  The move helped us pare down the "stuff" even more, and now our time spent "doing" is at an all-time high, and we're enjoying it immensely.  I sometimes find that the "doing" thing is more on my end than hers though.  If there's one thing Jess is good at (almost too good, really) it's relaxing (see Photo Exhibit A: "Day-old, Half-eaten Sandwich on Desk").

Photo Exhibit A: "Day-old, Half-eaten Sandwich on Desk"

My "doing" is a running joke with the neighbors.  Jason calls me "James the 'doer'" because I'm almost always working on something.  It could be that I don't get bogged down with three hours of commuting to San Jose like he does, but I digress.  I have noticed though that my "doing" is more for my entertainment than for the sake of actual productivity.  I do prefer to do things that have some kind of productive value, monetary or otherwise.  The swap meet, for example, is a diversion that has the potential to bring in some extra cash.  I even have thought about writing a book about the folks who I meet there, something of a photo documentary about how they make their livings on what other people would consider trash- it's really quite a statement on how we consume so blindly in this country.
 
I find the swap meet to be among the most interesting cultural experiences Oakland has to offer.  Is it because you can sometimes haggle with someone over the price of a set of drinking glasses because of their being displayed in such close proximity to jock strap? (see Photo Exhibit B, entitled "Would You Like a Cup or a Glass?")...  Or is it that I can practice my Spanish while hanging out with guys with names like Manuel, Panchito, Jesus, Memo, and Miguel Angel?  (Yes, I said Panchito.  That's him smiling on the right with some plantains)...  Jesus, the 15 year old who helps Panchito hock fruit every Sunday, seems to be inspired by my ability to habla the Español, as evidenced by our discussion about the benefit of studying Hmong over French (Hmong you ask?...  it's a language spoken in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and China.  Who knew?!...  I wish I could have taken Hmong in high school!).

It's nice to be living in such a culturally stimulating place, and we're loving every minute of it.

 Photo Exhibit B: "Would You Like a Cup or a Glass?"